


Second Choices

by orphan_account



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 18:33:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Arthur and Gwen's wedding night. Everything is going fine until she shouts out Lancelot's name during her climax.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Choices

"Lancelot, oh, _Lance..!_ " The words choke her, force their way out of her throat in the same way that the rippling wave of her climax forces it way through her, body and soul. "Oh, Lance," she whispers again, and his name is like a gust of wind to the embers of her passion. Her body tenses with the aftershock. Wrings her cunny tight, tight around her husband's rigid cock, makes him plant his royal seed deep inside her commoner's body.

He lies heavy on top of her for a few moments. It's the first time he beds a woman, and he's tired. They're both tired. But within a few moments, they're both awake and fully aware of the treason in her words. Arthur lifts himself over her, taking his weight easily on his arms.

"Guinevere--"

She stares at him in fear. She knows he would never hurt her, but surely his pride-- His heart-- He might be a king to everyone else, but she's known him since they were children. To her, he will always just be an insecure boy.

"Oh, Arthur--" Her hands find their way to his face, cradles the beloved shape of his jaw in her hands. "Arthur, my love, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

There are tears in his eyes. And she hates that. She has never cried easily, not like he does. And she never knows what to do with him. It tears her heart to shreds, every time. So she pulls him down, lets him rest his head on her naked breasts.

"I'm sorry, too." His voice is level, dignified. He's mastered himself again. "I know you would never have had me if he'd--"

She hushes him. Nothing good will come of raking this up again.

"It doesn't matter," she tells him, although her heart tells her otherwise. "It's your bed I'm in. Your sons I'll carry."

Arthur looks up at her, and she thinks he might say something. He's quiet for a moment or two, and then he says, "You make it sound as if you're a mare I bought for breeding. Don't you understand that I love you?"

His sincere words make her blush. She doesn't say that she loves him back, and afterwards she'll wonder why she didn't.

*

They do it again, later that night. She's on her hands and knees, and he's behind her. This time, he finishes before she reaches his climax. He falls asleep before her, too. It doesn't matter to her. She feels sore.

Arthur talks in his sleep. She knows this already, from the time he shared her old house.

"Merlin," he says, and Gwen wants to laugh. Even in his dreams, Arthur is forever scolding his manservant. " _Merlin_ \--" he repeats, and there's something in his tone, something else, a sweet, soft longing. Arthur makes a choked sound and turns away from her to bury his face in the pillow.

Gwen lies awake for a long time. It has never occurred to her that just as Arthur is her second choice, so she is his. It should hurt more to know this, but instead it makes her heavy heart a little easier to bear. She leans over to kiss the frown on her husband's brow before spooning round him, holding him like she would hold her brother when they were children.

"Good night, Arthur," she whispers, holding him like he's something precious, something delicate.

At last she is certain that they're entering this union as equals. She can't help but wonder what heartache lies in store for them in the future.


End file.
